Ask Gerry Cooney- Jan. 31, 2013

Compiled by Allan Scotto

Hey, fans! Welcome to “Ask Gerry Cooney,” where you get to ask former heavyweight contender “Gentleman” Gerry Cooney any boxing-related question you’d like. Your questions for Gerry’s review will be featured at Maxboxing.com every Thursday morning.

Each week, Gerry will answer as many of your questions as he can on the SiriusXM radio show, “Friday Night at The Fights,” a show that Gerry co-hosts with Randy “The Commish” Gordon, the former Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.

Why hasn’t Dmitry Pirog continued to fight and how did he lose his title? With Sultan Ibragimov, [Nicolay] Valuev, the underdevelopment of [Alexander] Povetkin, the inactivity of [Beibut] Shumenov and Pirog’s problems, it sure seems like something’s fishy in the Kremlin! What gives?

Our next question comes from Bobby L., who asks:

Gerry, I’ve heard you and Randy talking with Chris Algieri a few times on the show and I know he’s fighting on February 23rd. This fight, I understand, will be televised on NBC [Sports Network]’s “Fight Night” and I think his handlers have moved him along perfectly so far. So at this point in his career, do they need to start moving him up to more serious competition?

Gerry answered the following questions on last week’s show:

Our first question came from Chet Bennett, who asked:

Gerry, I fought professionally in the late-’60s and early-’70s. Back then, we weighed in the day of the fight - sometimes at noon, sometimes just a couple of hours before the fight. Today, fighters weigh in the day before the fight and dehydrate down to make the weight. By fight time, most of them are hydrated back to one or two weight divisions above the division they are representing. Other than the heavyweights, I can’t think of one champion who could actually fight in the weight class he represents if he were required to weigh in the day of the fight. Do you feel this is a fair representation of the respective weight divisions? Shouldn’t a fighter actually be able to fight at the weight class he represents?

Gerry agreed with Chet that weigh-ins should take place the day of the fight and pointed out that even in high school sports like wrestling, children dehydrate themselves to get into a lower weight class only to rehydrate to a much higher weight. It is also very dangerous as pointed out by Dr. Margaret Goodman, former Chief Ringside Physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Dr. Goodman explained a while back that there is a fluid surrounding the brain that can also be depleted during this process, exposing the fighter to even greater risk of head trauma.

Our next question came from Rich P., who asked:

Gerry, when a fighter is in trouble and the ref is not allowed to give him a standing eight-count, why is it that some fighters will end up getting knocked out in that situation rather than take a knee, guaranteeing an eight-count?

Gerry explained that the first instinct a fighter in trouble has is to fight back hard to get out of trouble. In a weakened state of mind, fighters will rely on their instincts though, at times, it would be beneficial to drop to a knee and take the eight-count.

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